"The existence of this shot was always known in history books, but this is the first time that the actual print has been discovered," said a curator at the Hiroshima Peace Memorial Museum. "A shot showing the mushroom cloud split into two like this is very rare."

Rare photo (Photo: AFP)

Photo of Hiroshima bomb taken by US military (Photo: AP)

The photo was found among articles related to the atomic bombing now owned by Honkawa Elementary School in Hiroshima city, she said. The best-known pictures of the aftermath of the bombing were taken from the air by the US
military.

An American B-29 bomber named Enola Gay dropped the atomic bomb nicknamed "Little Boy," turning the western Japanese city into a nuclear inferno and killing an estimated 140,000 in the final chapter of World War II.
Three days later another atomic bomb - "Fat Man" - was dropped on the city of Nagasaki, claiming the lives of another 70,000.